[Comment] A crystal ball for survival for spinocerebellar ataxias?

Death is an unequivocal clinical endpoint. Although each of us must accept the harsh reality of 100% mortality, prolonging survival has been, and will be, one of the major goals of medicine. Spinocerebellar ataxias are a group of autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorders, most of which show relentless progression, often resulting in total disability and premature death.1 SCA1, SCA2, SCA3, and SCA6 are among the most common spinocerebellar ataxias and caused by expanded CAG trinucleotide repeats encoding polyglutamine (polyQ), which belong to the same class of mutations as those of Huntington's disease, spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy, and a handful of other spinocerebellar ataxias.

Source: Lancet Neurology - March 14, 2018 Category: Neurology Authors: Tetsuo Ashizawa Tags: Comment Source Type: research